Abuse Kiena Dawes endured not a rarity - charity

A charity which supports women has said it deals with the kind of domestic abuse experienced by Kiena Dawes every day and violent controlling behaviour by a perpetrator was "sadly not a rarity".

Ryan Wellings, 30, was jailed on Thursday after psychologically and physically abusing the young mother from Fleetwood for two years before she took her own life.

Rebekah Wilson from the Wish Centre in Blackburn said Wellings' behaviour was not a one-off and "this is happening behind closed doors".

Wellings, of Bispham in Blackpool, is beginning a six-and-a half- year sentence after his conviction for assault and coercive and controlling behaviour.

The mother-of-one left a note on her mobile phone claiming she was "was murdered" and that her boyfriend, 30-year-old Ryan Wellings, was a "monster and a bully" who had "killed" her.

But Wellings was cleared of her manslaughter by the jury.

The judge told Wellings he made Ms Dawes feel worthless and blame herself for being assaulted, and he told her she was an "unfit mother".

The trial heard Wellings had given her a black-eye while she was pregnant, and attacked her in front of children.

In notes on her phone detailing the abuse, Ms Dawes said on one occasion he had held her head underwater in her daughter's baby bath, and on another had brandished an electric drill and warned he would "drill the teeth out of my mouth".

Ms Wilson told BBC Radio Lancashire: "We see victims of domestic abuse and coercive control every day -they have lived with this day after day and in some case for years.

"This does go on behind closed doors and sadly the behaviours we have seen in this case [Kiena Dawes ] are not a rarity."

She said she hoped other victims would come forward after hearing about Kiena Dawes and Wellings' prison term.

"It is a fairly long sentence," she said.

"I do hope it is encouraging to victims that they are safe if the perpetrator is in prison and I do hope it will serve as a deterrent – six years is a lengthy sentence."

Wellings was jailed for six years relating to the abuse suffered by Ms Dawes, and a further six months for an unrelated assault on his friend.

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